Love Rectangle Much?
by NightFuryNinja1999
Summary: The first story containing my two OC's. Astrid's long lost sister comes back to Berk after being away for 12 years. When she comes back all her childhood friends have grown up a lot and Hiccup and Astrid are a couple. When her long lost boyfriend arrives the next day, a confusing love rectangle starts to take shape...
1. Prologue - part 1

**Part 1 – The Disappearing Girl**

* * *

Ah, the prologue. The beginning of my life story. Well, I'll start from the very beginning. I'm Ingrid Hofferson; I was born on Berk, and lived a happy life there. I was named by the new Chief Stoick the Vast, in fact naming me was his first major task as Chief. A year later I had a sister called Astrid, and we were so close. Having a sister was the best time I'd ever had. We literally spent every waking moment together. We watched the older members of the tribe fighting dragons from our bedroom window and wished we were old enough to do that. We had a circle of friends; of course, we were friends with all the other Viking kids. These were the dumb and senselessly violent twins; Ruffnut and Tuffnut, the quite overweight, intelligent Fishlegs, and the very annoying and obnoxious Snotlout. All six of us were learning to handle miniature weapons from an early age; well, we're Vikings, what do you expect? We were all quite violent kids anyway. Then there was the son of the Chief. The small, scrawny and insignificant Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third. A pretty long and impressive name, but the owner really didn't live up to it. He couldn't fight; he couldn't handle any kind of miniaturized weapon, and was always asking questions. The rest of us, we just did what we were told, without questioning any of it. I feel pretty bad to say we made fun of him, we (not Astrid and me, but the twins and Snotlout) beat him up, we put him down. I feel really guilty about it now, obviously, but you can't change the past, as they say.

Which brings me to the next bit. When I was six, I had the most terrifying experience of my life. I remember it like it was yesterday. Astrid and I were walking back to our house one evening, talking about upgrading weapons and the latest jibes towards Hiccup. Then this horrible shriek came from behind us, and we froze in our tracks. We'd been heading home anyway before Aurvandill's fire began, but we were too late. Aurvandill's fire had already started. We slowly turned to see a huge dragon, and it was coming towards the village. I remember Astrid readying her axe and staring determinedly at the dragon and being stopped by some of the older Vikings. I remember uncle Fearless Finn Hofferson telling us to leave it be and let him go after it (he was 'frozen by fear' after that). It was the Flightmare. It was glowing a ghostly blue, and was covered in small spots almost resembling the night sky. Its eyes were white and its mouth was lined with two rows of sharp teeth capable of killing a man just with a nip. Out of its mouth flew a ghostly blue flame, burning everything in its path with white-hot accuracy. That was enough for small me. I ran screaming for the mountains, my parents and Astrid calling after me but weirdly enough I sort of zoned out with fear, hearing them but their calls were faded and seemed far away. Not knowing what to do, I ran on, my parents following me but I ran too fast for them and eventually I lost them. I remember hiding in a cave close to a bay on the other side of the island until the morning, having no idea where I was, utterly terrified and sobbing. No wonder I wanted to be alone.

The next morning I left the cave and wandered out onto the bay to look for any signs of food. (I had been trained in survival skills since the age of three). As I did so I saw a ship come around the corner. I recognised it as the North Star, the ship belonging to Bjorn and Mildriad Hermansen, the travellers who had come to Berk in search of help repairing their ship. I just stood staring, not caring whether they saw me or not. But the ship turned towards six year old me, and eventually it stopped in the bay, right in front of me. Mildriad came off the ship towards me and asked me kindly, "Are you lost, child?" I nodded. I was only six; I had no idea where I was. Then she asked me if I was scared, and I nodded again. I saw her turn round to look at Bjorn and back to me. They clearly didn't know who I was or who my parents were, but they could see I was a child in need of some care. She then turned to me and asked me if I wanted to go with them. I was still sobbing out of fear, but nodded and she guided me to their ship and we sailed away. Away from Berk, away from everything I'd ever known. I don't know why I didn't wait for my family to find me; I just wanted to be away from the Flightmare. I couldn't possibly make myself go back to Berk. I didn't even know if anyone on Berk was still alive, but I couldn't go back. Not in the state I was in. And so began the second chapter of my life.


	2. Prologue - part 2

**Part 2 – The Trappers**

* * *

For the next twelve years of my life I travelled with the Hermansens on their ship and lived in several different places. I remember those first few moments on that ship. It wasn't a majestic affair, just a standard Viking longboat with a dull blue sail flying from the mast. I remember stepping onto the deck and seeing stuff literally everywhere; weapons, barrels, chests of food. I remember being offered some warm yak milk they had picked up as a gift from the Berkians. I accepted it and was lead into a room on the deck, which they called the study. The wooden tables were covered in parchment pieces depicting dragons of all species, and notes they had made about these dragons. I was fascinated but horrified by these people, studying the very creatures we were at war with. Mildriad invited me to sit on a bog-standard wooden chair and to drink my yak milk. Whilst I was doing so she asked me who I was and who my parents were. The warmth of the milk calmed my fear and my nerves, so I felt able to speak to her about my life and what I had just gone through. But then I quickly changed the subject before I started sobbing again, asking her what they were doing studying dragons. She told me that dragons weren't the monsters we thought they were; they were simply just protecting their young, territory or food supply. She told me that she and Bjorn were travelling the world studying different dragons to eventually persuade the Viking people that dragons were not monstrous beasts. I laughed at that point, Vikings have stubbornness issues. They'd never believe that. She smiled and said, "We'll see."

I grew up on that ship, plus on several different isles and in several different tribes. But none for more than three months. We went around living in different tribes so as not to look too suspicious going to study dragons constantly, someone would eventually find us out, so we were kind of undercover. Over the next five years since my first steps on that ship, they taught me about all sorts of different dragons: the Deadly Nadder, Gronckle, Monstrous Nightmare, Hideous Zippleback, Terrible Terror, Scauldron, Whispering Death, the super rare Skrill and the mysterious, fabled Night Fury. Nobody knew anything about this dragon except that nobody had ever met one and lived to tell the tale. And that it never misses. I'd seen purple projectiles fired at various buildings on Berk and setting them alight instantly. Every single time. Not one single miss. It is the unholy offspring of lightning and Death itself. Everything about it is shrouded in a cloak of mystery. And for some reason that made me want to meet one so much I became obsessed with the dragon; the Hermansens and me had long discussions about it that went on late into the night and for my eighth birthday, they got me a necklace; a beautiful one at that, it was a bright green jewel but with a bronze depiction of a Night Fury (which turned out to be pretty accurate) curled around it. Since then, the Night Fury has been my single all-time favourite dragon, and I spent my life trying to find one.

* * *

But my first real dragon study experience was when I was eleven; the Hermansens took me to Dragon Island (don't ask me how they found it). The first dragon we spotted was a blue Deadly Nadder, so we crouched behind some rocks on the beach to watch it in its cave. I remember the Hermansens asking me to remember everything they'd taught me about this beautiful dragon, not the 'extremely dangerous, kill on sight' stuff I'd read in the Book of Dragons on Berk at the age of four. I remembered that it was a vain dragon, always preening to look its best. Its spines are deadly sharp and shoot out of its tail at high speed. And oh yeah, it likes to eat chicken. Bit random I know, but it's good to know what a dragon likes to eat for various reasons.

Then they decided we get a little closer. We slowly walked into the cave, holding out legs of chicken so as not to be eaten alive. The Nadder took the chicken out of our hands then when it saw we didn't have any more, it lashed out with its spines. The Hermansens ran for cover, and I followed, but I wasn't quick enough. One of the spines lodged itself in the back of my left leg and held. It then caught on my skirt and as I tried to run for cover and pull it out at the same time it dragged up my leg in a crescent sort of motion, blood cascading out of my leg in a scarlet waterfall. I screamed at the sight of the blood coming out of my leg, but soon got over the shock and the Hermansens helped me to pull it out, and then helped me limp back to the boat before I passed out due to blood loss. I woke up a day later to see my leg stitched up and a red crescent running up my leg, from the base of my calf to my knee. I wasn't shocked, if I was going to study dragons I was going to have to get used to seeing injuries.

* * *

That was my first up close dragon experience, but this next one makes it look like nothing. I was thirteen. We were just sailing along, singing songs to keep the morale up, we'd been travelling in the same direction for three days now, and it was getting kind of boring, we hadn't found any land whatsoever. But then a cannonball just smashed into the deck literally right next to me and I whipped my head around to see another ship next to us, only it was much bigger than ours and had a lot more weaponry. As soon as the Hermansens saw the cannonball hit the deck they pulled me into the study and we tried to save as many dragon studies as we could and stuff them in our pockets for safekeeping. At this point the North Star had already begun sinking. When we had finished the water was up to our knees and another cannonball sailed over our heads, just missing the ship. The next thing we heard was "Surrender yourselves or you will be killed on the spot!" so of course we surrendered ourselves and the next thing we knew we were on board the other ship and when we turned around, the North Star was no more. She had totally sunk to the bottom of the ocean, never to be seen again.

A few minutes later and we were on an island. It was the most disturbing sight I'd ever seen, and I'd seen half my leg gouged out by a Nadder spine! But joking aside, this was much worse. There were half finished ships, half-finished weapons and get this, they were building these awful dragon traps everywhere. They were like metal and wood domes with metal teeth for a roof and I saw them chaining these dragons inside. The dragons were trying to defend themselves but they were only chained and tortured right in front of us as we were led to a dingy little prison cell with barely any room to move. We were shoved in and told that [some guy called] Drago would deal with us later. And by deal with us, his crony clearly didn't mean have a nice little chat. I wasn't going to stand for this. We hadn't even done anything! I wasn't just going to stand by and let myself and the Hermansens get bludgeoned with an axe or whatever for not even doing anything; and not only that but I wasn't standing by and watching these beautiful dragons get tortured. I was SUPER MAD.

So when the evening came and things had quietened down a bit (and Drago still hadn't 'dealt with us'. I was hoping he'd forgotten. Or wasn't told. One or the other) I scanned the area outside our little cell and luckily all was clear. I could hear laughing in the distance so they were obviously eating and having a drink. So I took one of the pins out of my hair (yes us Vikings do like to take care of our appearance. Or some of us anyway) and used it to pick the rusted lock. Someone really ought to up security, anyone could break out! Once I was out, I assured the Hermansens I'd be back for them. I didn't tell them I was planning to bust out all the dragons on my way. I ran to the first dragon trap/dome thing I saw and picked the lock again, constantly looking over my shoulder to see if I was being watched. Momentarily I looked up at the door I was unlocking and got the shock of my life. On the door in bright red letters were the words, 'Night Fury. Approach with extreme caution.'. The very dragon I'd been searching for for years was on the other side of this door.

At this thought I picked the lock with speed and opened the door, only for my dreams and my nightmares to come true at once. There, right in front of me, was a Night Fury. Black and menacing with bright green eyes looking straight at me. Then it fired those deadly purple fireballs at me, and I dodged them with skill and ease. Those things could kill a person at any range. I made my way carefully around the edge of the metal dome, the dragons' eyes following me, and as I did so, I saw all the heavy, deadly chains keeping this beautiful dragon contained. As I stepped closer, the Night Fury snarled and tried to move away, but the chains restricted its movement. It winced in pain and hung it's head, almost like it was giving up. I felt a pang of sympathy for this creature, not even being able to move. Still I moved closer, murmuring, "It's okay, I'm a friend. I'm not here to hurt you." holding my hand out just like the Hermansens had told me. They had told me that dragons and humans could actually have an alliance, and humans could actually ride dragons. Trust is key, they had said, a dragon has to trust you in order for you to train it. I turned my head away from the dragons face as I got to it, and put my hand out in front of me. I tried not to feel scared, as dragons can sense fear, but that was easier said than done. After a few long seconds, I felt something cold and scaly touch my hand. I turned my head slowly to see to my surprise that this dragon had closed its eyes and was actually showing me that it trusted me. Probably due to the dire situation.

I took my hand off the dragon's nose and grabbed a random tool from the edge of the dome. I raised it to cut the chains but the dragon snarled, so I lowered it and went around cutting the chains one by one, and finally coming to the dragons' metal collar. I cut through this slowly and almost gagged. The dragon's neck was stained dark green with its own blood and marks where the collar had dug in. I felt that pang of sympathy for the dragon again and was determined to destroy the people who had done this. Then, to my surprise, the dragon turned round sideways, inviting me to jump onto it's back. I did as much, and we flew out of the doorway I had come through and up, up, up into the sky. The island was big, but not many dragons were being tortured. I patted the side of the dragon's head and said, "Go for it. Bust your buddies out." So it shot forward like an arrow and fired it's purple fireballs at the nearest dome. However they did nothing. So it aimed for the slightly weaker part of the dome; the walls. They exploded into flying pieces of debris and went up in flames. The debris must have cut the chains of the other dragons, as one by one they flew into the night sky and away, probably to Dragon Island. It was a beautiful sight. I felt proud of myself and of this beautiful dragon.

But my moment of pride was destroyed straight away as we heard the Vikings come running out of wherever they were and seeing me hovering. Boulders and axes and arrows flew past my head but the dragon flew out of the way of each one. I thought I'd better make myself sound brave and cocky so as to prolong my life. "IS THAT THE BEST YOU CAN DO?" I yelled at these angry, raging Vikings. Then without warning the Night Fury I was riding shot down at high speed shooting at these Vikings, sending them running away from explosions left right and centre. It was almost like it was angry at these people. It was the best feeling in the world, riding a high speed dragon shooting purple fireballs at a bunch of dragon trappers. I yelled in excitement and punched the air before we swooped back up again to hear yells and projectiles fired at us. We dodged with ease and I said, "Right then, buddy, now to bust out my adopted parents."

We headed straight for the prison, I kicked open the cage door, and invited them onto the back of the dragon. They were both gobsmacked. "Is that...a Night Fury?" Bjorn was struggling to speak. "It is indeed. My new buddy. Busted it out of its cage and saved all the other dragons. We're being pursued though, so I'd hurry up."

Mildriad took a look at the dragon. "It's a girl." She said.

"How can you tell?"

"Years of studying dragons, Ingrid. Although I've never met a Night Fury, I know how to tell a male from a female. And this one is a female."

"Okay." I said and looked down at the dragon, which looked back at me. I spoke to her, "Sorry, girl, I didn't mean any offence by calling you 'it'" I patted the side of her face and introduced her to the Hermansens, and assured her they weren't going to hurt her. I got each of them to do the hand-to-nose thing and then we set off. We set towards the harbour, and she landed. "Why are we stopping here?" Mildriad asked me.

"We are going to steal a ship. To get them back." I replied.

"Are you crazy?"

"Do you want a ship or not?"

They couldn't think of a comeback for that, so we got on board the only ship that was intact, thanks to me. We were just setting off when we turned round to see dragon trappers wielding torches and varying weapons. I turned round and did my loudest most confident laugh, "Ha! See you later, suckers! Try getting your disgusting dragon trapping business back after THAT!" as we sailed away, never for them to see again. Or so I thought.

[Meanwhile, somewhere on the island]

"Sir, do you want us to go after her?"

"No, Eret, you will not go after her."

"Why not?"

"Don't question your leader!" Drago Bloodvist pinned Eret, Son of Eret against the wall. Then he let go. "No. She'll get a taste of her own medicine, trust me. We'll just wait it out."


	3. Prologue - part 3

**Part 3 – Back to Berk**

* * *

I named that Night Fury Ninja. I thought it was a brilliant name. Bjorn and Mildriad had taught me that the world was round, not flat, and because of this there were so many lands far away. In one of these faraway lands, there were stealthy, powerful warriors called ninjas who protected their people from crime. So for a stealthy, powerful dragon I thought Ninja was a great name. We bonded over the years that passed, as we travelled on in our stolen ship, which we renamed North Star II (we thought that The Rising Death was a bit too menacing for our taste). As soon as we got to the ship I thought Ninja would abandon me, but she didn't. She stayed with me, supported me through the harder times, and became my best friend. We flew together every night; we bonded and built a wall of trust between us. I would trust her with my life. I know that sounds weird cos she's a dragon but it's true.

When I was eighteen, I thought it was time. I'd been putting it off for long enough. It was time to go back to Berk. I didn't even know if they were all still alive, but if they were it would be amazing to see them all again after abandoning them like that. I didn't quite know how Astrid would take it, but I was about to find out. That night I packed my stuff; my own personal dragon studies, this diary, and the Nadder spine which gave me my scar, which now ran like a frozen river up my left leg. Then I went out onto the deck and after an emotional goodbye to the Hermansens, got onto Ninja and flew into the night, in the direction of Berk**.**

* * *

**And that's the prologue! I know it's long but I think it introduces the story really well. Please review, I hope you enjoyed!**


	4. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 – Back Home**

* * *

It was very early morning by the time I arrived back on Berk. I made my way to Long Beach and softly landed on the sand. I looked at the village and was reminded of that night. The night scared little six year old me ran away from the village. I shook the memory from my head and just looked at the village that I had missed out on life in for so many years. I felt a bit emotional. But I forced myself not to cry – I didn't want everyone to think I'd turned into a sentimental softie.

Then I saw someone approaching the beach. I quickly told Ninja to fly and hide so I could surprise everyone with my Night Fury. The person approaching the beach was Astrid. My little sister. And Gods, she had changed. She just looked more mature, she was very pretty. She spotted me and rubbed her eyes. "No. It can't be. You're dead."

I held my arms out, "Oh thanks very much! Nope. I'm very much alive, little sis."

She looked shocked, then ran at me and hugged me, sobbing with happiness and shock. With the feeling of someone who had missed someone they were close to for so long. "Oh my Gods, Ingrid, I genuinely thought you were dead...I thought you were dead...it hasn't been the same..." her words were muffled with tears and the fact her head was buried in my hair.

Silent tears ran down my face too, I had missed my sister terribly, and her reaction made me feel guilty for leaving her. I hugged her back tightly, and said, "I'm so sorry, Astrid."

She lifted her head and suddenly her mood changed completely. "You should be! Why did you not wait for us that day?" all her tears cumulated into her anger and she pinned me against the nearest cliff, strangling me. There was the Astrid I knew.

"I...would...tell...you...if...you...weren't...strangling...me..." I just managed to say and she pulled her arm back quickly and resentfully. I then explained, "You remember the travellers that were on Berk that day?"

"The Hermansens?"

"Yes. Well, I was hiding in a bay somewhere at the back of the island, and their ship just rounded the corner..."

"Are you saying you went with them?"

"Yes...but I can explain..."

"Yes, okay then, let's hear it! Why did you go with two complete strangers and not wait for your own family?!"

"I was scared. I was lost. They saw this and knew I was a child in need of some care. I didn't even know if you guys were still alive! If you were all dead I couldn't have lived with the memory of seeing you all dead. Also they didn't know who I was! Until I told them after I got on the ship..."

"I can't believe I'm hearing this..." my sister was just about to go on but I stopped her.

"Look, Astrid, don't blame them. It was my choice. I couldn't have faced going back at that time. I just couldn't face seeing what the Flightmare had destroyed. I know that sounds weak to you, but it's the honest truth. But if you don't want me I can just go..." I started to walk away.

Her mood changed AGAIN. "Hey, no come back here."

I turned around and she said, "Ingrid, don't leave. Look I'm sorry. I overreacted because I've missed you so much and we searched for days on end but when we didn't find you we took you for dead. We even held a ceremony and everything."

I was choked. "I...I didn't know..." I stammered, my throat clogged.

She pulled me into a hug again. "I'm sorry for overreacting." she said.

I pulled myself together, stood back and said, "No, you didn't overreact. It was totally what I was expecting. When you hugged me first I thought, 'Hey, there's something wrong here.' And then when you strangled me I thought 'There's my little sis.'." She smiled. I carried on, "Look I totally understand if you're angry, but can we just move on from this? Again I'm so sorry for everything..." She put her hand on my shoulder, "Hey, it's okay. It's all water under the bridge now. And I've got my big sis back! Oh it really is amazing to see you, despite what I just did!" she hugged me AGAIN.

I hugged her back. "It's good to see you too. So I'm forgiven?"

"Hmmm, let me think about that. Yes." she said smiling.

I smiled back. "The good thing was, while I was travelling with the Hermansens, I got to study dragons." I said and then took it back; I thought she would hate me for that. But I got the shock of my life when she said, "Awesome! We've got an entire Dragon Training Academy."

"Say what now?" I was in shock and slightly confused. How had Berk suddenly become a dragon training facility?

She laughed, "Come on, I'll take you to it."

* * *

So she led me into the village, and on the edge of the village was the arena that used to be used to kill dragons, but is now used to train them. I was amazed by the whole thing. All my childhood friends obviously had dragons now; it was like the stuff of dreams.

When I walked in with Astrid they all stared at me like they'd seen a ghost (which kind of makes sense when you think about it) and I opened my arms and said, "Guess who's back and very much NOT DEAD?" the first thing I saw about them was that they had all grown up so much, and all looked very mature. Obviously, looks can be deceiving. With some people (i.e. the twins).

They all stared. Fishlegs fainted, but that's normal, so I wasn't too shocked by that. The twins temporarily forgot who I was (typical) but soon remembered that I had always been the strongest and they came and high-fived me. Snotlout had always had a bit of a crush on both me and my sister (as had someone else, who I'll mention in a second) and so he came and kissed my hand and said he always knew I was still alive as I was so beautiful and smart and all the rest of it. I was flattered but I never liked him in that way so I kind of just laughed it off. I also noticed that he didn't say the same sort of thing to Astrid, and then realised why. The once scrawny and insignificant son of the Chief had gained height (he was about six foot tall!), a totally awesome fashion sense, and looks. He had one of those chiselled jawlines that I'd always liked in a guy, and his hair was longer and sort of a floppy fringe and I could see braids in the back of it, and I don't know why but I had the feeling he didn't do them himself. I also noticed a metal foot, but I'd soon find out the story behind that.

"So who came up with the dragon idea?" I asked, but I kind of already knew the answer.

Nobody said anything, they just all turned to look at Hiccup. He noticed them all staring at him and said, "Well, if I hadn't, where would we all be?"

I laughed, "I thought as much. You were always a bit different."

"You made that quite clear."

"Look, I'm sorry for anything I said to you, I was a judgemental kid, as were the rest of us." I moved forward to shake hands and he took it.

"So, now that that's out of the way, let's see your dragons!"

"Hang on a moment, Ingrid, I think we'd all like to know where you've been all this time? We all thought you were dead." Fishlegs cut in, having come to.

I laughed again, "How many times have I heard that today?" I turned to Astrid, who shrugged and said, "What? We did! We had a ceremony and everything. Didn't we guys?" They all nodded.

"I'll tell you this – my life story since that fateful night is one for the campfire. So I think we should all have a campfire meal and storytelling tonight, how does that sound?" I said.

They all nodded again and the words "Okay" and "Yeah" went around the group. Then I asked, "And what is with the metal foot?"

They all laughed. Hiccup lifted said metal foot and said, "Long story. One for the campfire too. So, dragons?"

"Yes please!" I was so excited. And when all the dragons came out, I was stunned into silence. The twins had a shared green Hideous Zippleback called Barf and Belch, which was to be expected, because one head sprays gas and the other one ignites it, so they get to blow stuff up. Fishlegs had a light brown Gronckle called Meatlug, and she is so adorable. She's such a motherly sort of dragon; she's very caring, much like her owner. Snotlout has a bright red Monstrous Nightmare (of course) called Hookfang, who doesn't tend to obey his owner, I was told. And he also has a tendency to flame up. Astrid has a beautiful blue Deadly Nadder named Stormfly; who like her owner, is quite quick with reflexes to say the least. When I got to her and walked over to her, she sniffed me and upturned me with her head. Astrid was shocked; "Stormfly! That's my sister!" suddenly I knew why she had done that. It was the very same dragon that given me my scar. I turned my leg around to look at the now white crescent running up my leg, with a large blotch at the base where the spine had first lodged. "It was you..." I muttered, and put my hand on Stormfly's nose. "I'm sorry girl; I never meant any harm to you."

"What are you on about?" Astrid was confused, as were the others.

"One for the campfire." I repeated.

"No, tell us now and stop being so mysterious." my little sister was very commanding as she spoke.

"Fine." I said and got out the Nadder spine from my bag, still stained dark red with my blood. Then turned to Stormfly. "Recognise this, girl?" I asked her and held out the spine. The dragon sniffed it and took it between its teeth, threw it up in the air and then put it back in front of me. I smiled. "I'll take that as a yes."

I stared around, they were all dumbstruck. "Let me explain." I said, I told them the true story, just left the Hermansens out. I'd explain that at the campfire. "Basically, I came across a Deadly Nadder when I was eleven, I fed it chicken and then when it realised I didn't have any more, it lashed out with its spines." I got up to demonstrate. "I couldn't get away quick enough, so the spine lodged in the back of my leg at high speed," I placed the point of the spine gently onto the base of my scar. I heard an "Oooooooo" of recognised pain go around. I carried on. They were all listening intently, like they were five again. "So I tried to run but ended up limping back and holding the spine at the same time and as I did so it got caught in my skirt and it dragged up my leg like this," I half-ran across the arena, pulling the spine gently along my scar but not to draw any blood. They all looked slightly repulsed. "And the blood was pouring out like a waterfall." again gritted teeth, another "Oooooooo" and repulsed faces, "When I did manage to get it out I passed out due to blood loss not long after. I woke up the next day to find my leg stitched up and a red line going up my leg. And this spine," as I walked back to the group I held it up, "next to me on the floor." I passed said spine around the group and one by one they looked at it carefully and in awe. None of them asked who stitched my leg up, luckily. And Astrid knew better than to mention it.

Astrid was first to speak. "So that Nadder was Stormfly?"

"Yep. But it's okay, I was never mad at her. She was defending herself. It was my fault for not getting away quick enough." As I said this I put my hand back on Stormfly's nose and she moved her head against me as if she was accepting my apology.

"Where did you find her?" Fishlegs finally managed to ask.

"Dragon Island." I said and smiled because I knew what the reaction would be.

"How in the name of Thor did you find it without a dragon?" for once in his life Hiccup was actually confused.

"I'll explain that later. So where's your dragon, O Great Leader?"

"Please don't call me that. And you're gonna love this!" he said and then performed a Night Fury call. I heard Snotlout mutter, "Show-off."

I was speechless. In the next few seconds a Night Fury swooped down from the cliffs and landed next to Hiccup. "Ingrid, this is Toothless. Toothless, Ingrid." he said and invited me to meet Toothless. "Wow... So she's not the only one left..." I muttered as I put my hand out to pet Toothless and he didn't snarl or anything, he just stayed still. I knelt by him and held his head in my hands, feeling the cold scaly skin with which I was so familiar. I also noticed as I glanced around him that he only had half a tail. The other half was made of a red artificial tail with a skull design on it. I made a mental note to ask about that later. Then Hiccup asked me, "What are you on about now? Toothless is the last of his kind."

I got up and smiled. "I wouldn't be so sure." I performed my own Night Fury call and Ninja swooped down from her hiding place and landed next to me. "Meet Ninja." I said.

Hiccup was speechless for a second (as was everyone else. Fishlegs fainted again) then said. "No way! Another Night Fury! May I?"

I laughed and nodded and so he walked up to Ninja and did the same as I had with Toothless, but walked around her, staring in utter disbelief. As he was running his hand across the top of her head he asked, "What's with the name?"

"Oh, well basically when I was away," I was quick to leave the Hermansens out of this again, "I learned that that there are very faraway lands where the community have stealthy, powerful protectors called ninjas, and so for a stealthy, powerful dragon I thought Ninja was an awesome name."

"It certainly is. She's beautiful."

"She is, isn't she? As is Toothless, of course." I said; then asked, "What's with the half-tail?"

"I'll explain over the campfire, shall I?"

I smiled. "Yeah, why not?" then I laughed because the two Night Furies had begun circling each other and sort of introducing themselves.

When Fishlegs came to again during this he was so excited as he had only just comprehended what was going on and what it meant. "You guys! Do you know what this means?" I shook my head. "We could start a Night Fury breeding programme! They don't have to be so rare anymore!"

"Oh my Gods, yes! We have to do that, this way, they won't be so endangered! What do you think?" I turned to Hiccup.

"What do you think I'm going to say? Of course we should, I've always wanted to find if not create a family for Toothless, right bud?" he said, walking over to Toothless and patting his head.

"Yes! We'll start tomorrow. Oh wow this is so exciting!" I simply could not contain my excitement and I hugged Fishlegs, "Thank you for telling me this! You are amazing!" I think he blushed.

"And where do the rest of us come into this?" Astrid was clearly annoyed, or jealous of me.

I looked from Hiccup to Astrid and back again. I knew what she was on about. She was jealous of course. "Oh, I see, you two are together aren't you? Why else would my sister be so clearly jealous of me?"

Astrid blushed ever so slightly and Snotlout jumped into the conversation. "Of course they're together, why do you think I'm not trying to impress Astrid?" he walked over to me and said, "I could help with the breeding programme..." in a voice that was kind of like he was trying to be smooth. I also got the impression he was jealous too. I ignored him.

"Oh, let me guess!" Tuffnut called out and drummed his fingers on his helmet to aid his thinking. But it was his sister who got the answer. "I know! Because nobody wants to mess with the Pride of Berk and his love life!"

"I said let ME guess!" Tuffnut shouted at his sister and then started beating her up.

I laughed and then noticed that it wasn't just Astrid blushing. I'd always loved winding people up, which is why while Astrid was my sister, I had also gotten along very well with the twins. "Then we will leave you two to it. Astrid clearly needs some persuasion..." I said with a smile and motioned for the others to leave the arena. They all got the gist and followed me out, while Astrid blushed hard and yelled after me, "I'll get you for this, o sister of mine!"

"Ooooh, I'm shaking in my boots!" I shouted back.

"You'd better be!" was the last I heard from her.

After we left:

"Ooooh, she's going to regret that..." Astrid was seething; I'd obviously succeeded in winding her up and embarrassing her.

"Hey, just ignore her..." Hiccup said softly and put his arms round Astrid and hugged her.

Astrid looked up at him, "Bit hard when she's constantly winding you up..."

"Ssssh..." was the next thing she heard and the next thing she felt was his lips on hers, they held the kiss for a few seconds. Astrid loved their relationship, obviously, but she couldn't get her head around why he was so scared of public displays of affection. She wasn't, obviously, but he only kissed her when they were alone, it was very strange to her. It was very rare that they kissed in front of their friends. But then again he is the son of the Chief and the last thing he wants is to be embarrassed by his dad in front of the whole village. She contemplated this for a moment then dismissed the thought and vowed to talk to him later about it.

When they pulled out of the kiss he asked her, "Are you really, seriously jealous of your sister?"

"Well how could I not be? She's going to get to spend a whole lot more time with you than I am."

"Well you know that's not true."

"It is, and you know it is. I know you had a crush on my sister as well as me."

"Since when?"

"You told me."

"When did I tell you?"

"Oh, it doesn't matter now. It's true though isn't it?"

Hiccup was slightly embarrassed, "Possibly. Okay, yes. I always had a crush on both the Hofferson sisters."

"Ha ha! I knew I'd get it out of you!"

"Look, Astrid. I'm not gonna lie, your sister is extremely pretty. But I have you now."

"So you're not going to fall for her when you're doing the Night Fury breeding programme?"

"Of course not."

"You don't sound so sure. She's crushing on you I can see. She's my sister; I can practically read her mind."

"Well, it's her loss then isn't it? If she hadn't left, things may be different."

Astrid laughed. She wasn't going to question his loyalty any further. If anything did happen, however, she would deal with it then. She also felt smug, she had something her sister didn't – the most gorgeous boyfriend and not only that but the son of the Chief and the heir to the throne of Berk as well.

"I love your laugh." he said softly and leaned to kiss her again.

"Ingrid always said it was annoying."

"Well Ingrid is a bit of an idiot then, isn't she?" his voice was even softer and then he kissed her again.

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**And that's the first chapter! Tell me what you think in the reviews!  
**


	5. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 - The Prank  
**

* * *

Back to me:

Once we left the arena we went into the village and hung around for a bit, battling with dragons etc, I got to sit on both heads on the twins' dragon! Then I had an idea. I spotted Chief Stoick the Vast and called, "Hey Chief!"

He turned round and said, "What is it, Astrid, I..." then saw it was me and rubbed his eyes in disbelief, much like everyone else had. "Ingrid? No, it's not possible..." he walked over to me and put his hand on my shoulder. "It is you! You're not dead!"

I was so tempted to say something witty like 'Oh well done genius' but it's the Chief and I'd probably get in major trouble for saying something like that. Instead I said, "Yep. Very much alive."

Then, to my surprise, he actually hugged me. "It's so amazing to see you, where did you go?"

When he let go of me I said, "Well, we're having a campfire night tonight, so I'll get Hiccup to explain afterwards."

"Ah yes, the Pride of Berk. Heir to the Throne. Where is he, anyway? I need to speak to him."

I had to fight the urge to crack up laughing, "That's just it. He's over at the arena with Astrid..."

"I'll speak to him later then..." the Chief started to walk away.

"Wait! Don't you want an excuse to embarrass your son?"

He had to think about that for a second then he said, "Oh go on then." with a smile.

So we walked to the arena, we took the twins with us cos Snotlout obviously couldn't face it and Fishlegs didn't want to get involved. We walked up the stairs and around to the top of the arena very quietly and slowly. When we could get a good view of the two lovebirds we hid from them (even the twins were being quiet) and I whispered to the Chief, "Right so you want to speak to him?"

"Yes."

"So when I say, and I don't mean for this to sound like I'm ordering you around or anything, you yell his name at the top of your lungs like you do when he's in trouble." The twins struggled to contain their laughing fits.

"Why?"

"Because I want to wind them up."

The Chief smiled, "I guess a little winding up now and again is alright."

"No, I want to gain a reputation for winding people up so people come to think it as normal."

Then Stoick just laughed. Luckily we weren't heard. I popped my head over the top and only just heard, as it was spoken very softly, "Well Ingrid is a bit of an idiot then, isn't she?" and then they went into a kiss. Perfect opportunity. I nodded to Stoick and he stood up and at the top of his lungs bellowed, "HICCUP!" (at this point the twins collapsed with laughter)

I stood up next to the Chief as they both turned slowly around to see us stood there. As soon as Hiccup saw his dad stood there with a look of [mock] disapproval on his face he slowly turned bright red and muttered, "Oh Thor help me..."

I then shouted, trying not to laugh, "Who are you calling an idiot?" with a big smile on my face.

Astrid turned red as well and yelled, "RIGHT THAT'S IT YOU ARE SO DEAD!" and she started running up the stairs towards me. Hiccup was still stood staring at us, and so got confused when his girlfriend suddenly disappeared. When he spotted her running up the stairs he shook away the confusion and called, "Wait, Astrid, I'm coming with you!" Exactly the reaction I was hoping for. So predictable. The twins (who got ignored, by the way) were laughing so much they were literally paralyzed and crying with laughter. I was trying not to do the same. As the angry couple got closer to me, I called Ninja and she swooped down and picked me up. Astrid was left there seething and in the end she called for Stormfly. Hiccup tried to call Toothless but his dad stopped him and said, "No, you're coming with me, son." As if he really was in trouble. The Chief looked back at me and called, "You're welcome to stay as long as you like, Ingrid. I always liked you!"

I replied, "Cheers, Chief!" and gave him a thumbs-up as he walked away with his very embarrassed son.

But then I still had my angry sister to contend with. Ninja soared up into the sky and I yelled, just to be annoying, in a singsong kind of voice, "You can't catch me!"

"I think you'll find I can!" Astrid yelled back and raced after me. I zipped in and out of the sea stacks at high speed, surprisingly with Astrid hot on my tail. I flattened myself out and urged Ninja into a barrel roll, so we gained extra speed and increased the distance between us and Astrid. I heard her curse and she leaned forward to make herself more streamlined and sped forwards towards us. She was gaining on us fast. "Oh Thor..." I muttered under my breath and as I did another spin to try and increase the distance, I came face to face (upside-down) with another Night Fury and stopped short. Toothless. Which meant that I wasn't just being chased by my angry sister, I was now being chased by my angry sister and my angry sister's angry boyfriend, who just happened to be the son of the Chief! The next thing I heard was, "You're not going anywhere." I looked up to see Hiccup with his arms folded, he looked ANGRY. I was actually scared, but I wasn't going to let on. 'Quick, think of something witty or annoying to say...' I thought over and over at high speed until eventually I came up with "You might wanna rethink that." And zipped vertically skywards on Ninja.

I heard him call, "Oh, two can play at that game. I'll show you what this artificial tail can do." Then to Astrid, "Don't worry milady, I've got this." And then he opened Toothless' tail and soared towards us at a higher speed than we had got up. "Oh Thor..." I muttered again and before I knew it I was cornered against a sea stack, hovering in midair, by both of them.

"One word. Why?" Astrid was clearly trying not to strangle me again.

I smiled. "Because I wanted to embarrass you. Both of you."

"Well thanks to you, my dad is not going to shut up about it for weeks." Hiccup chipped in, "I'm not going to hear the end of it..."

I laughed, "Exactly what I wanted to happen! Aww, it was so CUTE though...I think the persuasion worked..." I smiled and winked.

"You've only just got here and I already want to kill you..." Astrid stated.

"Ah, but you couldn't possibly kill me. I'm family..."

"You wanna bet?" Astrid said but she knew I was right. "Anyway if you're going to wind up ANYONE can you at least let me in on it?" when she said this she smiled and nodded towards her boyfriend and I knew I was forgiven. For now.

"Depends who I'm winding up." I said and winked at her, smiling.

"But if you're winding Astrid up can you please let me in on it?" Hiccup sounded a little left out.

"Possibly. What if I'm winding you both up?"

"You won't!" they both said at the same time.

"Believe me, this was just a warm-up. I'm just getting started." I said, and indicated to Ninja to fire a plasma blast so they cleared out of the way and so I could zip through and get away. It worked. As I flew away I laughed, "Wow! I can't believe you fell for that!"

After I left:

Hiccup was just about to come after me, he was still seething. But Astrid stopped him by flying in front of Toothless. "Babe, let her be. You'll only make things worse for yourself."

"She just has this way of winding you up so much you want to strangle her..." as he said this he made his hands into fists, as if imagining my neck was between them.

"That's exactly the reaction she wants. Just leave her. If you don't react she'll get bored."

"Will she?"

"Yeah. Eventually. Can't say how long it will take though. We'll just have to deal with her. She is my sister, after all."

"Okay. Come, milady, we have a campfire to be going to." Hiccup smiled as he motioned for Astrid to fly with him as the sun started to go down on my first day back on Berk.

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**And there's the prank. I love it, it's so hilarious, I was crying with laughter just writing it. See you soon!  
**


	6. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 – The Campfire**

* * *

That evening at sundown, my childhood friends and I gathered around the campfire, with a decapitated chicken roasting on a spit over the fire. "So, sister, tell us your life story!" Astrid demanded, and the others nodded in agreement.

So I leant forward so the light from the fire reflected onto my face and highlighted the shadows like a proper dramatic storyteller. "It all started on that fateful night..." I began and then told them everything, how the Hermansens had taken me away, taught me that dragons were not the beasts we thought they were (including the beginning of my obsession with the Night Fury), then lead on to my encounter with Stormfly, to my encounter with the dragon trappers, to meeting with Ninja, to absolutely owning the dragon trappers, to training Ninja to being here. They were all stunned.

"So there's a guy out there who's trapping dragons?" Hiccup seemed worried (of course he was, he's going to be Chief one day).

"Yep. But after we dealt with him, it's gonna take a while for him to get everything back to the way it was. I mean it was five years ago now and I haven't heard anything. Just goes to show, eh girl?" I said, rubbing the top of Ninja's head and she responded by licking my face. "Ewww..." I said, wiping her saliva off my face and flicking it back at her. Everyone laughed. In fact they laughed so much Snotlout choked on his chicken and the bone went down his throat. Astrid had to punch his stomach to sort it out. Ninja then gave me a look as if to say, "You did NOT just do that...I'm gonna sulk now." And with that she flew off and stood on the cliff, watching me with her bright green eyes.

I smiled, "She'll be back." And subconsciously held the pendant of my necklace.

"What's with the necklace?" Fishlegs inquired as he spotted me do this.

"Oh this?" I said and unclasped the necklace and passed it round to my sister first who was next to me. As it went round I explained. "The Hermansens made me this for my eighth birthday. I've worn it every day since."

"It actually does look like a Night Fury." Fishlegs stated, studying the necklace, but he of all people would know that.

"I know. It's gorgeous, isn't it?" I held it up so the firelight reflected in the jewel and then put it back on.

"It is." Astrid was impressed. Then she turned to her boyfriend and batted her eyelashes. "Can I have one?" with one of those smiles that you do when you want something.

"Maybe. You will have to wait and see, milady." In one of those smooth kind of voices and then he kissed her briefly.

"Ewwwww..." everyone else, including me, exclaimed at the same time, "Do you two have to do that here?" Tuffnut asked.

"Yeah, people trying to eat here!" His sister finished.

I laughed and said, "Excuse me while I go vomit." And jokingly got up and then sat back down. Everyone laughed. Astrid raised her eyebrows at me and smiled one of those sickening lovey dovey smiles. Everyone saw and pretended to vomit behind their backs. Hiccup wasn't really bothered (strange because apparently there was rarely a PDA from these two even in front of the guys. Also if his dad was there he would be bothered), he just shrugged and smiled and said, "We're allowed."

"Oh so because you're the son of the Chief you get to kiss your girlfriend whenever you like and put the rest of us off our food?" Snotlout sounded like he was trying to start an argument.

"No, it doesn't just apply to us. If you had a girlfriend, Snotlout, maybe you'd understand." Hiccup smiled as he said this and then everyone looked at me. Because Astrid's out of the question Snotlout was now going to try and impress me constantly. I think I blushed, I'm not entirely sure. I was embarrassed though. "Is that supposed to be a comeback for my AMAZING prank earlier? Cos if it is it's not a very good one. You'll have to do better than that!"

Everyone collapsed into hysterics at the memory except the couple in question. I had explained to the others what had happened and it wasn't going to get old for a long time. I got up, "Honestly, you should have seen their faces! It was CLASSIC! And Astrid was all defensive like, 'Right that's it you're so dead!' and came running after me!" I did an impression of my sister. She was the only person who didn't laugh. Even Hiccup smiled in amusement and when Astrid noticed she gave him evils and he put his hands up in surrender.

Once she was able to speak Ruffnut added, "Yeah, it was so funny we couldn't actually move we were laughing so much!"

"I think it was the way the Chief had the mock disappointment on his face!" I said and the twins and I laughed at the memory. I was actually crying. Fishlegs and Snotlout were laughing their heads off, despite not wanting to be involved with the initial prank.

"Yes okay, can we talk about something else now?" Astrid was clearly getting annoyed.

"Yeah, actually." I said, taking a massive bite of a chicken leg. I swallowed and then said, "I'd like to know what the peg leg's all about."

Hiccup laughed sarcastically and then explained to me what had happened at the age of around 15. About how he accidentally shot Toothless down, then met up with him on a regular basis (becoming better than Astrid at the whole dragon training thing in the process. That I'd like to see.), trained him, then gave him a temporary tail, flew him on a regular basis. Then he told me about the dragon arena fight and how Toothless had managed to fly in try to protect him, but instead got captured by the Chief who called his own son a liar and shunned him, and then used Toothless to find Dragon Island. Hiccup then taught all the others to train dragons and they all flew in to help defeat the king/queen of the dragon nest, the Red Death. However, it was Hiccup and Toothless that defeated it by using its size against it and blasting it. Toothless' tail then burnt away and they fell apart, down, down, down into the raging fire. Then they all thought he had died, and then when Toothless lifted his wing he revealed that his master was in fact still alive. Most of him. He lost his left leg in the fire and as a result Gobber made him a metal leg. Over the years he's tweaked it and made it more useful and easier to walk on, which is typical.

Now it was my turn to be stunned. "Wow. And that's how all this happened?" I said, gesturing to the entirety of Berk, with its feeding stations, dragon washes, fire prevention, custom stables, the lot.

"Yep. It was all this guy." Astrid smiled and put her head on his shoulder. In response he kissed the top of her head and caressed her hair gently.

I ignored this adorable PDA and said, "That's SO cool. But if anyone was going to change their minds it was going to be you." I said.

"Really, how did you come to that conclusion?" was the sarcastic reply I got.

I laughed sarcastically back and looked up to Ninja on the cliff. "So, I'm going to head off for a night flight, does anyone want to join me?"

Hiccup looked surprised, "That is SO weird, that's what I do at this time every day!"

"Awesome. Does anyone else want to join us?"

"Nah, I'm getting to bed." Was the general reply from the twins, Fishlegs and Snotlout.

Then I turned to Astrid. "Wanna join us, sis?"

"I'll pass, thanks, I'll leave you two to have your Night Fury nerd conversation!"

I laughed. "Thanks!" I said sarcastically, "Night! See you all tomorrow!" and motioned for Ninja to come down from the cliff, she seemed to have forgiven me. I got on and flew off into the night, Toothless hot on our tail.

* * *

**Chapter 3 done! I love this chapter, it's so funny. Not as funny as the previous but still. Next chapter very soon!  
**


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